“Why do I love reading the book of Hebrews so much?” I wondered. I found that every time I read through this book in the New Testament, my heart would swell with emotions I couldn’t quite identify. What I read made me happy, so happy I felt I was bursting inside. Sometimes I had such a deep sense of gratitude that tears filled my eyes. Now, I know I am an emotional person, but other books of the Bible didn’t affect me quite the way this book always seemed to. What was it about Hebrews that moved me so?

I’m not a natural analyst. My husband is; I am not. But I think that because of being around someone for so long who is that way, some of his analytical skills rubbed off on me. You know, learning by osmosis. Or maybe it has more to do with observation. I learned to step back and look at things in an objective, as opposed to subjective, manner. It is sort of like stepping aside, out of oneself to look at what you had been looking at from inside yourself. That little shift in perspective can be very enlightening.

And that is what I did one day. As I thought about the totality of the book of Hebrews, considered overall what it is saying, stepping a little to the side of my normal perspective, I realized in a flash— it’s all about Jesus! More than that, it magnifies Jesus. That is why I loved the book of Hebrews so much. It puts Jesus up before our eyes in a “total package, what you see is what you get, and it’s all good” way. Other books of the Bible say some of the same things about Jesus but here all those things are laid out together as though on a beautifully decorated banquet table: a feast for our souls.

Hebrews has been for some time my favorite book of the Bible, but I realized not many others felt that way, so I was both pleased and surprised when our weekly Bible study group chose to study the book of Hebrews! I’ve never done a study, per se, of the book; I’ve just read it a number of times and looked up various words and items of interest, read other books based on Hebrews. Now I will be going deeper and I’m looking forward to it!

Our first actual session was last night covering the Introduction to the book of Hebrews in the study guide we’ve chosen to use[1] as well as Hebrews 1:1-3. Have I mentioned Hebrews can send me into raptures? These first three verses are among, or maybe the most, beautiful in the whole Bible! I currently use a NASB which puts it quite adequately, but I confess I love the flow and crescendo of the prose of the King James Version. It layers and builds, like a giant wave off the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii in November, peaking to the magnificence of the crashing curl. Listen:

 

            God,

            who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

            Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,

            whom he hath appointed heir of all things,

            by whom also he made the worlds;

            Who being the brightness of his glory,

            and the express image of his person,

            and upholding all things by the word of his power,

            when he had by himself purged our sins,

            sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

!!!!!!!!!

I’m in tears! No surfer ever had a higher high surfing a giant wave. The majesty—words fail me—of these opening words to the book of Hebrews stand like an eternal monument to the glorious Person of Jesus Christ.

And we’ve only just begun.

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[1] Wm. Barclay The New Daily Study Bible: The Letter to the Hebrews, 3^rd edition,  Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY 2002